Miss America
by actionman81
Summary: Peggy Carter gets the Super Soldier Serum. Can she stop Red Skull and Hydra?


1943

New York

"Please don't do this. We have time. We can work it out" Peggy Carter smiled sadly at Steve Rogers, one hundred and ten pounds, who stood in Dr. Erskine's laboratory  
"Right now, I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer, a lot of people are going to die. Peggy, this is my choice" he sighed. The experiment, Project Rebirth had failed. Despite the doctor's best efforts, as well as Steve's, he had emerged from the metal cocoon the same he'd always been- a good man, but nothing more. The people who would die were the people he couldn't save, couldn't help, by being the super soldier that they were counting on.  
Peggy said nothing. What could she say?  
Steve tried again "Peggy?" he looked up at her  
"I'm here" she sighed. Though she was there physically, she stated the obvious to imply that she was also there emotionally.  
"I'm going to need a rain check on that dance," he smiled, trying to mask his emotional pain  
"All right. A week next Saturday at The Stork Club," she forced a smile, denying everything, just as he was.  
"You've got it," he replied. Would he even be in her life, a week from today?  
"Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late; understood?" she instructed  
"You know, I still don't know how to dance" he shrugged  
"I'll show you how. Just be there."  
"We'll have the band play something slow. I'd hate to step on your-" his voice trailed off. He sighed and left the room. It was no use delaying the inevitable.  
Peggy Carter stared at the small, slight, man who walked away from her. Why couldn't he see that he was already a super soldier in her eyes?  
She looked back ad Dr. Erskine, "I'm sorry"  
He stared at her and smiled, "Rogers is a good man. This project is not a failure. He is still a good man, and we can always begin again, with another good man, or woman"  
Peggy looked at the doctor as if he'd grown another pair of eyes on his face. Was he suggesting what she thought he was?  
Dr. Erskine nodded, as if he could read her mind, "Yes, woman. Though the formula is pH balanced for a male intravenous system, there is enough similar chemistry between men and women for it to work"  
"Half a chromosome?" Peggy looked at him incredulously  
"Ah, you have read, The Cell in Development and Heredity?"  
"Indeed I have"  
Peggy paused a moment, "What—what about Steve?"  
"Do you want to go after him?" the doctor had a twinkle in his eye  
Peggy sighed, "No" she shook her head, "the free world is at stake" she slipped off her uniform jacket and unbuttoned her blouse cuff, "Shall we begin?"  
Meanwhile, the Colonel, and the other brass, along with the onlookers, were already filing out, leaving the doctor and Carter alone with Howard Stark, and a few stragglers.

"How do you feel?" Dr. Erskine asked when Peggy emerged from the metal capsule  
Peggy looked at the doctor, "I—I don't know" True enough, she wasn't taller, or much more muscular. In fact, she looked quite the same. She flexed her bicep, and much to her surprise, it tore through her uniform blouse  
"I would say that is something different" the doctor smiled, pleased at his work.  
A Hydra agent stepped out of the shadows and flipped open a lighter. An explosion in the ceiling sent glass raining down on everyone. Howard Stark rolled under a console. Peggy shielded the doctor and herself as best she could, but the Hydra agent shot Erskine in cold blood. Peggy shot the soldier in the shoulder, but he ran off. Peggy glanced back at the doctor, who only pointed at her and was dead moments later. Peggy raced after the Hydra agent, but he'd already stolen a taxicab and was racing down the street. Peggy chased after him, and after a whirlwind pursuit through the city, once Peggy had him cornered, she found her gun spent, and ended up beating him in the face with the butt of her pistol "Why?" she screamed in his face, "Why Dr. Erskine?"  
The agent stared defiantly at her, bit something in his mouth, and shouted "Hail Hydra" while his face filled with foam and he died on the street, a writhing mess.

Soon, news of Peggy Carter's transformation swept the nation. Newsreels spoke highly of her,  
"Among the ashes of a cowardly attack on the land of freedom, an unlikely new hero rises to take up the good fight. Agent Peggy Carter answers the call. A celebrated field agent, she is a master of combat, firearms, and out to deliver a shocking blow to the enemies of justice. Yes, those enemies must surely be trembling today as the name of a new hero rings clear against their machinations. Peggy Carter, Miss America"  
Like her new code name, Peggy received a new outfit for her missions. Consisting of a red blouse, white necktie, blue slacks, and a matching blue armored jacket, she certainly looked the part of a real hero— perhaps, rather, heroine.  
The moniker, Miss America was mainly to capitalize on her beauty, which hadn't changed an iota. She was still the most gorgeous woman that many men had seen. However, she wasn't just a pretty face or a nice body. She was still a top notch agent, and could go through the paces of an obstacle course in record time. Like Dr. Erskine had said, the serum amplified everything that was inside Peggy. The fact that she had had to deal with several obstacles in her career path, it allowed her to know the value of strength, as well as of compassion.

Unfortunately, while the concept of Miss America seemed grand, there was little that Peggy could do about Dr. Erskine's death. Granted that she was a SSR agent, she couldn't exactly parachute down behind enemy lines, into a full tilt battle. However, Colonel Chester Phillips had other ideas.  
"You're the best person for this job" Philips was serious  
"Thank you, sir" Peggy nodded, "how exactly can I be of service"  
"It seems that we've lost a group, here" he pointed at a map on the table, "the men of course are important, but before we lost correspondence, Barnes noted that he'd found information on Schmidt's troops, but before we could verify what, he was gone"  
"Barnes, that was Rogers' friend" Peggy confirmed. Steve would be beside himself with anguish if he knew that his friend had died, despite however valiantly for the cause of justice.  
"Yes" Phillips went on, "We need that information, and you're the only one who can bring it back"  
"Yes sir" Peggy nodded. After a beat, she asked the Colonel, "Sir, is there anything else I should be privy to?"  
"This information is strictly a need to know basis" the Colonel frowned, "War isn't a game"  
"Yes" Peggy agreed, "but" she stared into his eyes, "I'm not playing a game. I never was. Either that information is important enough for you to trust me with it, or you're willing to risk killing the men that you're so desperately trying to rescue"  
"Hmm" Phillips mulled it over  
"If I may, sir, if the men die, the information you're seeking will never be found"  
"The Tesseract" was all he said  
"Barnes mentioned that?" she was momentarily shocked. How could Hydra get hold of such a weapon?  
"It's-" Phillips began  
"It's possibly the key to unlimited sustainable energy."  
"Yes" Phillips was pleased with Carter's knowledge, "I don't have to warn you that it needs to be handled with the utmost care"  
"Quite so" she smiled firmly

Before long, she was flown above Italy  
"You ok?" the pilot called to her from the front of the carrier  
"It's just as I remember it" she was ready to jump, "I've infiltrated hostile territory before, I'll be fine" a smile flashed on her face momentarily  
Within what seemed like moments, she had parachuted down and found the fortress of Schmidt's Nazi division, Hydra.  
Before long, she had found the soldiers, and unshackled them.  
"Who are you supposed to be?" an African American soldier stared at Peggy  
Carter shrugged, "Miss America" and cracked open his handcuffs, then moved on to the other soldiers  
Bucky Barnes also stared at Peggy, "You're that girl"  
"That girl?" she took a moment to register what he could possibly mean by that comment  
"Steve- Steve had a picture of you"  
"He did?" Peggy smiled in spite of herself, "How sweet" she went on to free the other soldiers  
As Peggy led the others out of the fortress, she came face to face with Johann Schmidt  
Schmidt smiled at her. Peggy held the other men back, lest the Hydra leader try something that would end in everyone's death.  
"Miss America! How exciting! I'm a great fan of your films!" he referred to the newsreels, "So, Dr. Erskine managed it after all. Not exactly an improvement, but—impressive, yes" he looked her up and down  
Peggy beat him in the face with her shield, "You have no idea"  
"No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see, I was his greatest success!" he ripped off his face to reveal a hideous red, skull-shaped head underneath the mask  
Bucky, who stood behind Peggy with the other commandoes, swallowed audibly, "You're not going to do that, too, are you?" Bucky was horrified at the thought of Peggy ripping off her beautiful face to reveal some sort of hideous monster underneath.  
"You are deluded, madam. You pretend to be a simple agent, but in reality you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind. Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without fear!" he yelled at her, he threw a charge at the company and using a remote detonator, he set off an explosion that threw Peggy and the men back, flying in all directions.  
With her expertise, Peggy managed to lead the men back to base camp.

Once at the camp, Peggy knew that bringing the men safely back was only one item on her plan. Hydra still had the Tesseract, and they had to be stopped, at any cost.  
Colonel Phillips barked orders, "I want every allied eyeball looking for that main Hydra base"  
"What about us?" she gave a hard eye at the Colonel  
"We are going to set a fire under Johann Schmidt's ass. What do you say, Carter? It's your map. Do you think you can wipe Hydra off of it?"  
"Yes sir, but I'll need a team"  
"We're already putting together the best men"  
Peggy looked at the men she'd just saved, "With all due respect sir, so am I"  
Dugan looked at Peggy and frowned, "So let's get this straight"  
While others waited for him to finish, Jones spoke up, "We barely got out of there alive, and you want us to go back?"  
"Precisely" Peggy replied  
"Sounds rather fun, actually" Falsworth replied  
Morita, Jones and Jaques agreed as well  
Dugan tipped his bowler, "Hell, I'll always win a fight, but you've got to do one thing for me"  
"Do what?" Peggy looked quizzically at him  
"Open a tab" he downed the rest of his beer, "Well, that was easy"

Peggy used her strategic knowledge to roughly pinpoint the location of Hydra's most secure stronghold. "No building is impenetrable" she explained Using knowledge gained by the capture of Arnim Zola, the company managed to infiltrate the fortress, however in the ensuing battle, Barnes was separated from the team, was captured and dragged away, presumably to be killed.

"You go on ahead, keep Schmidt from detonating the Tesseract!" Peggy shouted to the men, "I'll find Barnes"  
The building housed several hundred rooms, how would she find the location? A passing guard was caught unaware when Peggy snatched him from behind. Holding his neck in a tight vice grip, she barked, "Where are they holding prisoners?"  
The guard smiled, "When you cut off one head, two grow back"  
"Let's see if that works" Peggy tightened her grip on the man's neck  
"No no" the guard suddenly changed his mind. Perhaps he wasn't as far deluded as other Hydra agents, "D-down –down" he stammered, and then soiled himself

Peggy checked door after door, constantly looking behind her shoulder, ready for another attack. Bucky was nowhere to be found, yet she found someone else. A soldier was strapped to a table. She glanced down. One leg was missing.  
He looked at her. Instead of fear, or worry, his eyes were filled with strength. The straps were too much for him to open on his own, from his position on the table, but anyone could see that he wasn't backing down.  
Peggy stopped a moment. Could this be a trap? Taking Barnes, and leaving someone else for her to rescue, who might be some sort of suicide soldier, ready to take down the team along with himself.  
Time was ticking away, and Peggy made a gut decision. There was something about this man, something in his eyes, that reminded her of Steve, her Steve, if he ever was hers.  
"What's your name, soldier" she unbuckled the straps that held him down  
"Sousa" he assisted her once his arm restraints had been removed, "Daniel Sousa"

Peggy found the other soldiers, pushed Daniel ahead with them. Dugan hefted Sousa on his shoulders the way a man might carry a potato sack.  
She ran back into the fray to finish off Schmidt once and for all, but found him boarding a futuristic looking jet.  
"Stop!" she shouted, knowing he would never listen  
He turned, smiled and boarded the craft.  
Peggy rushed and hurled herself in just as the door came down.  
Schmidt grabbed Peggy by her jacket collar and threw her headlong into the back of the airplane. She slammed against projectiles. Mercifully, none of them exploded there and then.  
By now, the craft was airborne and Schmidt was piloting it. He flipped a button on the console and allowed himself to turn back toward her  
"Don't think you'll stop me"  
Peggy glanced at the projectiles. Each had a different city name written, Athen, Belgrad, Florenz, Tokio, New York Stadt, amongst others.  
"You bastard" it was clear what he was planning.  
"Thanks to this little wonder" he smiled at the Tesseract, which Peggy then realized had been placed on the carrier the entire time, "I shall have as much power as I need"  
"Never" Peggy snatched a pistol that was clipped to the side of the craft, part of a minute arms display, and tried to shoot the cube structure away from Schmidt.  
"Nien!" he shouted, and grabbed for the cube  
The Tesseract shone brilliant white and burned through the floor of the jet. The blinding white cube hurtled several thousand feet below, into the ocean.  
Peggy grabbed Schmidt, and threw him to the floor of the craft.  
Schmidt stood, grabbed a parachute, and took a fighting stance, "Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait, but I must say, you do it better than anyone. But there are limits to what even you can do, Miss America, or did Erskine tell you otherwise?"  
Peggy stared at the hideous monster that had once been a man, "He told me you were insane."  
"Ah, he resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine, but he gave you everything. What made you so special?"  
"Nothing, I'm just trying to do the right thing"  
"Ha" Schmidt laughed in her face, and leapt out of the hole in the airplane floor.  
Peggy rushed to the controls, grabbed the steering column, and saw with horror that the jet was headed to New York City. She had one chance to change things, to make things right. She strapped two pistols to her uniform, grabbed a parachute, and forced the jet down, down into the frigid Atlantic below.  
There was a blinding light from below, as Schmidt finally made contact with the Tesseract in its freefall. He was obliterated from the face of the earth in a blinding white flash of light.  
Peggy heard static coming from the console in front of her, and then the Colonel's voice broke through. From New York, Colonel Phillips had managed to gain radio contact  
"Carter, what the hell is going on?" he barked, "Land that damn thing. Now!"  
"I can't. I need more time. This thing is moving far too fast, but I can try to force it down"  
"Are you insane?" Phillips shouted over the airwaves, "Where is that Stark?" he yelled at someone else  
"Don't you dare turn this into a suicide mission, Carter" Phillips barked  
Peggy remembered Steve's words to her, from a time that seemed eons ago, "Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer a lot of people are going to die. Colonel, this is my choice."  
"Godspeed" the Colonel replied. The line was quiet then.  
Peggy used her quick thinking skills to her advantage. She whipped off her necktie, pushed the control handle farther so the plane was in a deep nosedive. She then tied the necktie around the handle and used it as a makeshift autopilot device. That kept the plane in its nosedive while she leapt from the pilot's seat, and rushed to the cargo door. She yanked open the access panel. Looked down for a split second, and then jumped out of the craft as it hurtled down towards the Atlantic Ocean.  
She looked down as the parachute flapped open and she was jerked upward, and then began her incredibly slow descent. The ocean below looked as blue as Steve's eyes were. She looked up. A forming storm cloud on the horizon loomed dark, as dark as Daniel's eyes had been.


End file.
